Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts Review

Posted on July 14, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to take a look at a romance anime from a little while back. This one had a lot of mountains to climb to try and be solid though because right from the jump I had my doubts about the main romance. It’s going for clear Beauty and the Beast vibes here which is admirable about inner beauty and everything but it’s still hard to root for. The main guy is…well he’s a beast and the main heroine looks like a child. Mix that together and this romance is going to be a super hard sell. We’ll see if the anime manages to pull this off or if it can at least succeed in spite of this.

The series introduces us to a girl named Sariphi who has been shipped off to the land of monsters as a human sacrifice. It’s not exactly a great honor, it’s much the opposite. She was an outcast in the realm of humankind and was always treated horribly. At least now she could have a quick death but to her surprise, Leonhart says he will let her go. He actually never eats the human sacrifices and only keeps up the tradition for peace between the realms. He lets them slip out the back and presumably when they go back to the human world they live a brand new life. Sariphi has nothing to go back to though and decides to stick around. This forces Leonhart to name her as his bride to be. She will be queen over the kingdom and this news shocks all of beast kind. Is the King being seduced by the human? Many monsters will have something to say about this.

Naturally it’s not surprising that this would cause a lot of friction. It’s completely unheard of after all since humans and beasts are completely different. At least in this series both are totally humanoid and everything but yeah I’d suspect foul play if I was one of the monsters as well. It’s all just so sudden after all and the King doesn’t really go in depth on explaining his pick. He’s the king so why should he right? But the ole “Because I said so” is never a very convincing argument when you really think about it.

So lets dive into the romance right now. Why wait right? There are two main romance plots here. The first is with Leonhart and Sariphi and yes I could not really get into this. At the end of the day, he is in his beast form for nearly the whole series and she’s still super in love with him here. The problem is to me this just feels more like a gratitude thing. She went from a kingdom where everyone wanted her dead or out of the way to a beast that has made her queen. Naturally she owes him a lot and so she is super thankful to be alive. I don’t think it translates very well into the romance though.

I also just can’t really get past her design which is a little too small and the beast being a beast. So with those 3 factors in play, this was a romance that I was not rooting for. I’m afraid that the show will have to try and succeed in spite of it. The other romance with Amit and Jormungand is better but also still underwhelming. It tends to be a little more on the cringe side at times. Amit is just way too nervous the whole time and can barely have a real conversation with the guy. We would have needed a much longer time frame for this romance to really work at all.

Hey, this series isn’t only about romance though so lets get into the other aspects of the show. As far as the animation goes, I would say it looks reasonable. It’s clearly not a top tier contender or anything like that but I wouldn’t say it’s super cheap or anything either. I suppose it’s what you would call average. It checks off enough boxes as needed and will show up a bit for the fights when they occur. It’s not something that would hurt the show but it’s not something that would help it either.

The soundtrack is mainly forgettable as well. The opening songs aren’t bad though. Not my favorites or anything but they have a good beat to them. The second opening definitely wins from the two in terms of audio. So I give the series some props there. Generally the plot and atmosphere are solid as well. The show can get a bit violent and the sob stories can get rather sad but the series is never too drastic about this. They set up the world and have all of the details in place but don’t go out of their way to make everything too gritty to try and set up your sympathy. I can appreciate that.

The cast of characters is also reasonable. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but much like the rest of the show they fit the bill. Nothing too great or too weak. This series manages to keep up a fairly average level in most areas so I could see this one being a bit forgettable after some years. Ironically what will keep it most memorable is the main romance since you’re not likely to forget that even if it’s not for the greatest of reasons.

As far as Sariphi goes in terms of being the main character, I thought she was okay. She has her brave moments where she steps up to to protect her friends and face off with the villains. Ultimately what hurts her is she can be a little too naive though. For every risk she takes that is good, she will take a few that just put her in too much danger. Going along with the main villain Fenrir at one point is an example of this. She gets lucky a whole lot and I think she should stand up for herself some more.

The fact that she is a human going up against powerful monsters does stack the deck against her but at least she has a powerful Phoenix in Bennu. She should use this beast more since it can be super handy> Those flames will burn anything in their path after all. With the exception of Fenrir and Gleipnir, I think these would be enough to protect her from virtually any character in the series. She just needs to play things a bit more cautiously.

Then we have Leonhart and I’m afraid I’m not a big fan of this guy either. He’s the king, yet he lets himself be pushed around by traditions all of the time. How I see it, if he was a villain then he would ignore everyone and just make Sariphi his queen. Anyone who didn’t like it would just be wiped out. I’m not saying Leonhart needs to wipe anyone out but they should be respecting his authority as King. So if he says that she is going to be the queen then I need everyone else to back off.

Every time they take Leonhart to the table with threats about how she will be kicked out and everything, it’s just super insulting. Ultimately she usually says that she wants to take the challenge and he relents, but it’s not a great look on his end. This is when I need him to man up. He’s one of the wimpier kings that I’ve seen in a series like this. I know that tradition is a big thing but being King gives you the option to toss this away. No matter how many times he roared in the series, he couldn’t make me forget that.

Then you have the super “loyal” butler Anubis. He’s constantly trying to get rid of Sariphi and even thinks about murdering her at one point. This is not the guy that you want to have as your right hand man by any means. Anyone who would even consider murdering the queen to be like that can definitely not be trusted. Like that was just completely insane. Then later on he also doubts Leonhart himself. Yes he ultimately finds his way back to being a decent person but there should be absolutely no doubts. His actions put everyone in danger time and time again. Some would say that true loyalty is being able to make a move against your master and I would argue that it means always making sure they are safe and get what they want.

It’s an oversimplification and there are other factors at play but murdering the queen to be is not one of them. Then we have Ilya who is a terrible character through and through. Where to even start with this guy? He claims to be in love with Sariphi but was never around when she needed him. Then he shows up causing all kinds of damage to “save” her when she was doing just fine. I would get it if she was super beat up, bruised, or seemed off like mind control. The problem is that it was obvious that she was doing find.

He goes as far as to tie her up and everything which makes him look absolutely terrible. I like the drive of wanting to save her but he took it the absolute worst way possible. The instant he was not willing to even hear her out when she was explaining things was when he was completely doomed. You can’t come back from that. He also would not be able to protect her. If they go to the human world she will be murdered and if they wander around, a monster will eventually take them out. He is strong, but he is only human and that is not enough in this world.

If you want a real protector, then you have to go with Bennu. Bennu can have an attitude and is rather slow to protect Sariphi sometimes. But you know what? Bennu is still ready to help when it counts and trusts her completely. That’s the kind of bodyguard you want to have. I’ll take the loyalty any day.

Back to the army forces, we have Jormungand who is a really powerful fighter. He is very serious and always on top of business. I can respect that and his skills are legit. He is very quick to side with the king even after a lot of people start turning on him. This guy has actual loyalty and so he was always a welcome sight. In a lot of ways he’s what Anubis should have been.

Another good loyal character was Lanteveldt. He can be a troublemaker and always keeps everyone on their toes but he will protect Sariphi. He takes on a lot of injuries as the series goes on but never falters. By the end I would say he is one of the stronger characters even if he will never rise to the top. The fact that Fenrir and Leonhart have actual aura blasts and projectiles makes that matchup just plain unfair. Lanteveldt has his quickness and agile moves but at the end of the day those simply aren’t going to be enough to win sometimes. Still one of the best characters though. I like his confidence and you always get bonus points for not just following royalty.

Then we have Joz and Galois who are fairly minor characters but do a good job of testing Sariphi. What I liked about their test is that they weren’t risking lives or doing any of that crazy stuff. No, they just wanted to see how Sariphi would treat those who appeared to be lower in station. And she did very well of course because she’s really not into any of that stuff. Considering her background it makes sense, but even without it she just has a code of ethics that the other characters lack.

She also to show her kindness with the minor character Tetra. Tetra got to see why Sariphi made for a really good queen who would rule with a just hand. It’s definitely not something that you could really say for any of the other ladies who wanted to be queen. Most of them tend to look super petty throughout the series. Tetra is a nice kid, she doesn’t do a whole lot here but it’s always nice to have more allies around. Anastasia is more of a random character who appears near the end but she is able to read the ancient scripts which is handy. Honestly it’s impressive that she has survived so long while being an outsider and not really having any connections. Definitely not something that just anyone could pull off. She has a tough aura to her so even though her role is fairly small, I thought she was fun.

Now we get to some of the big villains. First up there is Gleipnir who is a super good assistant to Fenrir. The guy has unwavering loyalty which is second to none in the series. Fenrir saved him from a very short life filled with nothing but negativity and gave him a solid purpose. Gleipnir was eternally grateful and really honed his skills. In terms of pure skill he is probably the best in the series. I really liked his automatic weapons and I dare say only the top two would be able to defeat him. He would wipe the floor with every other fighter. He’s my second favorite character in the series behind Landeveldt.

As for Fenrir himself, he’s a solid main villain. The guy has a pretty tragic backstory and basically wants to prove that he is actually the best. The thing is that his abilities are nowhere close to Leonhart’s and they never will be due to how the power levels work in this series. The guy wouldn’t have made a good king anyway. I found him to be a bit whiny at times so if he got more screentime then it would probably get even worse. He worked because he didn’t appear for very long and that was probably the best way to do it. Also, his abilities were impressive. The show didn’t have a ton of action scenes so this guy got to help change that.

Finally we have the villain Set who is super petty and only gets as far as he did because the king is too soft. This guy wants to uncover the big conspiracy and set everyone against Leonhart. Great, I get what he is doing here but the thing is that it should not matter at all. Leonhart is the king no matter what shape or form that is. Set could and should have been stopped very early on but of course Anubis fumbled the bag which was the big mistake here. So yeah I never really liked Set and only plot armor let him last as long as he did.

Overall, Sacrificial Princess is a good reminder of why you have to be strict and tough as a King. The role of a King is different from that of a president or governor. A King has absolute power and so you must remind others that you have this power. You never have to be cruel or do anything crazy with this, just make sure that your decisions are respected. Pretty much the whole series only happens because everyone feels like they can talk back to the King and do what they want. Even the minions try murdering him during the climax of the show. That is absolutely crazy. Leonhart’s goals are good but at times he can just be a bit too naive. Ultimately it’s not a bad show or anything but I don’t think there is a whole lot here to capture your attention. I’d keep it near the middle for that reason because without the romance there isn’t a lot left. It’s not part comedy so there isn’t a whole lot of humor here either. The fights are good though when they happen. Ultimately, how much the show catches your attention will be completely dependent on how much you enjoy the characters and the setting. We’ll see if the spinoff/sequel/follow up gets animated at some point.

Overall 5/10

Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit Review

Posted on July 14, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to jump back into the world of DBZ. Things definitely get rather intense there so you can be sure that this would be another great game. While I do think it is completely inexcusable to not have the Buu saga, the rest of the game is still really good. It’s interesting to see which fights were made into stages and which weren’t. The game is fairly short so it definitely won’t last very long but you will have a good time throughout the adventure.

This story mode is definitely made with DBZ veterans in mind more than the average DBZ game. While it has more battles than the original Budokai, this one rarely gives you any real context to the battles. You’re thrown right in, sort of like a best hits kind of compilation to the title rather than a true story mode. Each arc has around 20 levels in it. There are also alternate paths/stories where you can relive the Broly movie, the Bardock special, and then a few random fights thrown inside. That does help extend the story play time a little bit although it’s still fairly short in the end.

Most of your playing time here will likely be in the vs mode which makes sense. This is a fighting game after all so that is mainly why you are here. The character roster is fairly small but all of the core characters are here which is what counts. It is interesting to hear Cell’s first form with his Perfect voice since they seem to share a character slot though. In the cutscenes he sounds normal so I’m surprised they couldn’t set it up that way in gameplay. Unless maybe it is and this is just a glitch in the story mode. I can’t say that I went into the vs mode myself to test this out.

The graphics are really good. I like the dynamic designs and artstyle used for the characters. The game places a heavy emphasis on the aura that each character admits, so you should get ready to see a lot of bright colors. I imagine this might be tough if you have any vision issues so keep that in mind. It can be a bit overdone at times but all in all I would say it ages pretty well. I don’t always get the point of spiking up my aura but I’m sure that’s more of an advanced gameplay mechanic.

As for the soundtrack, it’s fairly decent. There aren’t many memorable tracks here so I can’t give it a higher rating than that. It works well for the scenes that it is in but the whole time you do feel like they could have some richer tunes. Something more along the lines of Xenoverse 2 which sounds amazing in all of the levels. DBZ on average should be leaning towards hard rock music that really gets you into the match.

One thing this game does which is fun is throw in a quick fight that is pre rendered before every story battle. You quickly see how there are only 3-4 variations that are looped to each character model but I still liked the effort. I always like seeing the characters mix it up before the actual battle starts and it adds more of a cinematic flair to the fights. These are battles that all DBZ fans will be super familiar with since every game has them so this helps the game to stand out a little more than it would otherwise.

There are no PS3 trophies to add to the replay value for single player content but you could try to unlock all of the special conditions in each fight. There are a bunch of them based on different techniques or actions that you need to take. I’d say that would be a fun way to test your limits and everything. Ultimately the unlimited replay value is in the vs mode but it’s still important that there is some more single player content to have past the initial hours. How long it takes to get the complete requirements in each level will likely vary dramatically with your skill level but for even the best of players this should at least double the run time.

I will take one last shot at not having the Buu saga though. This is something that you absolutely need to have. To say that there wasn’t enough space or budget in a PS3 game is something that I would have a hard time with. Saving it for the sequel is also not a good enough excuse because that is the devs getting really greedy. I could see this absolutely lowering the hype for a lot of people because cutting out one of the biggest arcs like that is crazy. I still can’t get over that part. I’d still be playing the game right now if there was a whole other big arc of battles left to play like that.

Overall, Burst Limit is definitely a great game. It is one that feels like it was made with a rather narrow budget at times but all in all it’s still a lot of fun which is the important thing. The gameplay is rather advanced so it is difficult to craft the combos that you want. You will really have to study up in this game and learn all of the moves if you want to pull that off. It’s not an easy feat by any means. I suppose in that way it is definitely a lot more like a true 2D fighting game. You can have endless fun with friends here which definitely keeps the title at a high level.

Overall 8/10

Journey to the Seventh Planet Review

Posted on July 14, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a film that mixed in the themes of sci-fi with temptation and the importance of willpower. You may think that you don’t need any willpower in space because you’ll just be with your friends but what if you run into aliens? The characters didn’t think about that and so unfortunately you’ve got yourself a very weak group right here. All they do is hold each other back which is definitely not good since negative peer pressure isn’t exactly helping things. The film has an interesting idea and reminds me of Star Trek a lot. That being said, I didn’t think it succeeded nearly as well as it could have thanks to the characters not being so good. That really makes a big difference in the end.

The film starts off by introducing us to the main crew as they are heading into space to check out the 7th planet. Unfortunately they all black out at the same time. When they wake up, a whole lot of time has passed but hey they have made it to their destination. Instead of a dead planet though, they’re on a pretty nice one that even has houses and stuff. It’s all really weird but they start investigating. The weirdest thing? Girls from their past have started to show up. It’s hard to say how they arrived in space before them but the researchers are pretty hyped. Can they keep their head focused on the task at hand though?

Okay so naturally this is already looking bad for the scientists but it gets worse. Early on they are able to figure out that obviously the girls are not real. Some kind of entity is using their memories to get to them and make sure they either don’t leave the planet or that they take it with them. This should make the whole thing fail right off the bat but instead they are just so happy to see these ladies around that they ignore their senses the whole time. Talk about acting crazy right? It’s a really bad look for them but also I didn’t like that the entity doesn’t have much of a plan for a while there.

Towards the very and I mean very end of the movie the villain finally starts some sabotage attempts and everything but it’s way too little too late. Taking them all out early on would have been super easy. The film has a nice twist ending at least but for the most part you’re just wondering what the point of all this is. If you have as much power as the entity and it clearly had a ton, then you should just take the humans out. They all should be getting bumped off with how weak willed they are. Turn this into the first space based horror film as the girls separate the guys and then take them down.

Yes I know there have been other space based horror films but none quite like this. It would really be about the characters being unable to confront their past and fears so they are easily overpowered. Then just have one or two characters who don’t fall into the trap and actually stand by their guns. That would definitely be the best way to handle this. This gets worse when you realize that the entity actually has creatures and stuff at the ready but doesn’t bring them out until later on. I know the main plan was to take control of the human bodies and use them but why not do that right from the start?

The entity clearly has enough power to easily knock everyone out while they were on the spaceship and they were apparently knocked out for a very long time. If you can do that from long range then you can probably do that from short range as well right? So just do it again and keep doing it as long as you need to in order to take over the body. Now it’s possible there is some restriction that the film mentions about his needing to be right next to the victim or to be in contact for this to work. I don’t think so but throwing that out there in case I’ve forgotten something but even then, knocking them out first makes the most sense.

Ah well, while the film may not be super exciting or action packed, I still enjoyed the writing. It has that old school dialogue that I always tend to enjoy and of course the pacing is solid. It’s fast and goes by real quickly. You definitely aren’t wasting any time here and even if I didn’t think the film was all that good, I like the vibes. The idea of going to a planet where you have to literally face off against your memories is interesting. I think a better film could easily do wonders with this kind of premise. Unfortunately it just ended up being wasted here. So you can watch it to think about the premise or skip it, it’s really on the fence.

Overall, Journey to the Seventh Planet is not the most exciting film. It would have been nice if the characters could have had a bit more agency here and not just fallen for their desires the whole time. After a ton of in fighting and everything they eventually get their act together but it took too long and by all rights they should have been dead by then. So I’m definitely massively skeptical about the whole thing. I was entertained at least but yeah this could have been more dynamic. Have the girls start bumping the guys off or something to increase the drama like I mentioned earlier. Now that would have been interesting. Instead you are just reminded how the average guy in these old films was super desperate and seeing a girl was enough to shake him to the core. They are definitely not ready for deep space and any tough alien would immediately be taking them down for the count. They were literally not built for this.

Overall 5/10

From Here to Eternity Review

Posted on July 14, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a very dramatic war film. Get ready for a lot of unlikable characters running around. It’s a film that will keep you engaged the whole time to be sure but I do think it could have used a few boosts to really make it a very solid title. Maybe more war scenes since surprisingly that doesn’t actually happen until the very end of the film. Most of it is really just setup and a bunch of hazing.

The movie kicks off with Prewitt being transferred over to a new war base. He was unsatisfied at the last posting because he didn’t get the promotion that he felt was deserved. Warden’s job is to see to it that Prewitt joins the army’s boxing club because otherwise his boss will be upset. Prewitt refuses due to an incident that happened back when he was a boxer so now he has to try and stay strong while the army attempts to bully him into submission. Will he be able to stick to his guns or will the army break him? That is really the core plot of the movie and that seems to happen a lot in these titles. Half the time you feel like if these army guys are your allies then you’re already in hot water.

The movie does have a few subplots though but they don’t do much to help the movie. For starters we have Warden getting into an affair with his boss’s wife. Huge fatal mistake right there. As I’ve always said there is no real coming back from cheating and when the Warden made a conscientious effort to get to her, he was already doomed. It’s a shame because he had a lot of entertaining scenes otherwise. He makes for a pretty solid boss. Certainly a corrupt one, but a guy who is very crafty and careful with his wording. Warden knows how to manipulate people and how to stay safe amidst all of the inter army politics.

He prides himself on being a very smart guy so it’s a shame that he makes such a dumb mistake. Ultimately this subplot persists throughout most of the movie until some stuff happens in the climax and he decides to switch goals. Not due to any kind of redemption arc though so his personality hasn’t gotten any better. He’s still not someone you can possibly root for. Naturally the boss’s wife is also pretty bad in having her affairs. Everyone is cheating on someone in this film and it plays a big part in why all of the romances are so weak.

Prewitt has a romance going on too but it’s also not a great one. He falls in love with one of the girls at the club he visits and doesn’t seem to understand that it’s their job to act nice with everyone. He immediately gets super possessive and starts to cause a lot of trouble with everyone. The guy can’t hold his drinks super well and gets really annoying for large parts of the film. Ultimately when the chips are down he doesn’t listen to the girl and runs off which is always a trend in these things.

He only has one friend in the army who has his back, Maggio. Unfortunately Maggio is even worse at holding his liquor and picks a bunch of fights as well. Ultimately this doesn’t end well for the guy which is unfortunate. The film is definitely filled with quite a few tragedies as all of the characters tend to end things off worse than how they started. Most of this is because of drinks or generally just not being great people though.

In general the film’s writing is good. When you take away the individual characters for a moment, you’ve got a strong film about trying to resist everyone forcing you into a path you don’t want to follow. It’s incredibly difficult when everyone is against you and there is all kinds of corruption within the ranks. I do think it would be enough to completely turn you against the army and try to get out of there. If this kind of thing happened to enough folks there would be so many mutiny attempts and the army would really go crazy. It’s always unfortunate to see so many people within the film be okay with it though.

These are theoretically the heroes we’re supposed to be rooting for when the villains attack but it’s hard to do so when you see how cruel they are. This leads to vigilante justice as the film goes on which is really shown to be the only effective way to stop them. You basically have to root for Prewitt because otherwise nothing is going to get done. The ending feels a bit unnecessary as the lead didn’t think things through but the final fight was on point. Felt like a grim ending that happened because it was planned out (Or I guess that’s how it happened in real life perhaps) but the setup in the film really didn’t make any kind of sense. Like going out to try and prove something that didn’t need proving.

Ultimately this is a movie that is really just held back by the characters. They all have significant flaws which keeps them from being likable. Any character who seems nice enough quickly has a film ending flaw before the adventure is over. Whether it be getting drunk the whole time, having a quick temper, not being very smart, cheating, etc. The idea is probably to be as realistic as possible which can be a depressing thought in itself. The film is based on true events to an extent so I was mixed on whether I would give this one a score or not. Ultimately it was about a 50/50 since a lot of events were true but it seems like the names were switched and a bunch of extra stuff was added. Might as well throw it in.

Overall, The movie had some good ideas but ultimately I would have to give it a thumbs down. After a point having a cast filled with unlikable characters will often bring down the film as a whole. The whole thing feels pretty unfair to the main character the whole time and things never really went well for him. Again you’d feel sorrier for him if he was more likable but that’s how it goes. If you really enjoy seeing the inner workings of an army base and what the day to day could look like then you should have a good time here but you can definitely do a lot better with these old war films.

Overall 4/10

Killers from Space Review

Posted on July 14, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for an alien invasion by creatures with fairly large googly eyes. They’re definitely the kind of fighters that you don’t want to take for granted. Honestly their designs are pretty funny but it’s not like they appear a ton so you’re fine. At its core this is a pretty campy sci-fi film from ages ago on what could happen if aliens showed up. With the right blend of humor and danger, I would say that the film actually ages pretty well. You are unlikely to forget about the aliens at least.

The film starts with Dr. Martin getting into a bad accident and being in a huge crash. He should have been destroyed but he manages to get back up with only one injury. A big scar. So he makes it back home but is starting to act rather odd. He seems to think that aliens are among us and the only way to stop them is by turning off the power which will cause their base to overload and blow up. Of course, doing such a thing across the country is rather drastic and everyone already thinks he is crazy. He will have to find some way to overpower everyone but what if…..what if he really is crazy?

The film is only a little over an hour so it goes by quickly but that’s a solid length for this kind of film. I like to think of it as more of a story prompt than anything else. What if aliens did invade? What if you were the only one who knew about it? Well most likely you would be called a conspiracy theorist at this point and everyone would be taking shots at you. You’d probably never make it to a position where you could stop them. If anything, you might get irritated enough where you root for them to destroy humanity for not heeding your words. I would not rule that possibility out, that’s for sure. Now since this film is from back in the old days that does help since there aren’t cameras and the usual tech out to stop you. Additionally, Martin is already a fairly well regarded scientist who has a lot of access to just about everything so that really gives him a leg up here. If he was just anyone then he would not have gone as far as he could.

I do think Martin does a really bad job of convincing everyone though. He launches into the whole story about being abducted by aliens and everything. Who would believe that though? If he’s honest with himself then he wouldn’t believe them either because there’s just not enough proof. Yes, we see the alien eyes appear randomly throughout the movie and he can see them but nobody else can. So all he is doing here is making himself look crazy and unfortunately he is succeeding.

If he was smart, Martin would have done one of two things. One would be to make something up about the power grid to explain why he had to turn it off for a minute or two. The thing is, it only needs to be turned off for that short amount of time which is not really a big ask. He’s smart enough where he should be able to trick them into this. Alternately, just say you need to see the lab again and while you’re in there, shut it off quickly. In the film we see that the way to do this is by pulling the lever down and is just takes an instant. It would be easy to do this while everyone is shocked.

Instead we do get to see him punch someone out when they attempt to stop him so that was still fun. Ultimately Martin was very driven by his passion to stop the aliens and I can appreciate that. He just made a lot more work for himself over here which seems to happen a lot in these old films. People talk about aliens and monsters without thinking for even an instant that maybe this is a super bad idea because it sounds crazy.

Even the people who knew Martin the best could not defend him. The main heroine buys into the explanation that he is just overworked and everything. Then his best friend also thinks the whole thing is incredible and couldn’t possibly be happening. So yes, Martin had no other real options than to play hero by himself. I would have liked to have had some more screen time with the aliens though.

Why weren’t they prepared for this? We see their eyes at various points and all and it seemed like they could communicate to Martin but maybe they couldn’t hear what was happening? Because otherwise they should have abandoned the base in the time it took Martin to drive over there to shut them down. All of the aliens were connected to the same spot as well? That’s very poor logistical training on their part. You want to scatter and make it so there are lots of targets for the heroes. If you do that, then you are still ready for another round instead of being absolutely dominated the whole time.

Overall, Killers from Space is a pretty fun film. It does feel like the aliens played their part sloppily in order for the humans to have a chance though. Realistically, the humans should have gotten absolutely destroyed here. The villains had invisibility and the element of surprise on their side. After reviving Martin and using him for their own ends, they should have finished him off. Allowing him to make a comeback to save Earth was their big downfall. I suppose it’s a feel good message about not underestimating humanity though. I can respect that. It’s a wholesome ending and all. It just felt like humanity was completely outgunned the whole time. If you’re into sci-fi I would definitely recommend the film though. Even just thinking about the premise is a fun thought exercise.

Overall 7/10

Escape Plan 2: Hades Review

Posted on July 14, 2024 by dreager1

This review is of the TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

All right it’s time for the next big thriller adventure with Ray and his security setup. I thought the first film was definitely a bit iffy on the premise of Ray getting captured so this one makes a lot more sense in that regard. The story actually thinks of a good reason to get Ray in there. For the most part it’s really just a redo of the first film in a lot of ways. The lower budget does allow them to make the prison a bit more sci-fi this time though which is nice.

The main character here is really Shu this time. He works for Ray and is really good at his job. He doesn’t get fired like another guy who messed up by trusting his computers too much. Unfortunately Shu gets roped into some family drama and is attacked by a bunch of thugs which leads him to being trapped inside of Hades. Hades is one of the most secure prisons of all time and appears to be run by the same villains as in the first film. This naturally puts Ray in a very dicey spot because now he has to find a way to get in there and save Shu. The only way…might be to let himself get captured. Never my favorite plan but if you have to do it, at least this is a slightly more reasonable approach.

That said, I still don’t like the plan for a variety of reasons. The biggest one is that the most likely outcome of this is that Ray will be murdered. When you enter a space like this that is run by villains who all want to murder Ray, there is no other real outcome here. He is going to be absolutely dominated right out of the gate. The whole film’s premise really only sticks if the villains keep Ray alive out of their misplaced pride in how he can never escape. This naturally never works but in a more realistic film, they would just murder him as soon as he’s in there. Especially since one of his workers is already there so they may team up.

Still, Ray handles himself as well as possible. He’s already looking a bit older in this one (Although not nearly as old as in the third film) but he can still fight when needed. He gets a quick action scene with his partner DeRosa early on which was really solid. DeRosa is a new character here who really comes in handy. He’s been in the game for a very long time and has evidently helped Ray in the past. He’s another tough guy who beats up everyone in his way. These films have no shortages of these kinds of characters. He’s not quite up to par with the guy from the first film but he will suffice. I always enjoyed seeing the meanwhile scenes away from the jail with DeRosa doing his thing.

As for Shu though, he’s a solid main character. He puts up with a lot of torture and beatings at the jail in order to find his way out but also to help his cousin. Shu is a strong fighter and does well in the prison’s underground tournament bracket. If the fights were the only thing he would have to deal with then I think he would have gotten out just fine. Of course, you can’t expect anything to be all that fair down here. The warden certainly doesn’t appreciate this guy and Shu has a massive target on his back since his cousin was already the main person in harm’s way before. Even just helping him doesn’t do wonders for Shu’s social cred.

Again you do have to suspend some disbelief throughout the film for how the heroes learn about the exits and such. They memorize guard walking patterns, steal objects, etc. It all relies on their making some friends here and all of the guards being inept enough not to notice them taking things. I also question how exact the patterns would really be for any company. What about people cutting out early to smoke, staying a bit late, walking a different route, etc. The fact that everyone does things the same way all the time is super unrealistic to me because I feel like that basically never happens in any job. Whether it be public or private, people tend to have a lot of variance in what they do.

You could say that the jail warden just made sure people would stick to the script every time but that would make him not look so good. If anything a jail is the exact place where you would want extra variance the whole time. You want to throw the opponent off your trail and everything. So I’m skeptical but I always am for films like this one. The important thing is that you’re kept entertained though and the film did pull that off. So it’s still positive overall.

I take some points away for the general grit and violence of the film though. It’s nothing terrible or anything like that but still enough to be noticeable. it’s pretty much inevitable for any of these films where the heroes are stuck in a prison because the whole point is to show off how cruel and tough the warden is. It’s harder to show that without adding a bunch of scenes where the warden is dominating right?

Overall, Escape Plan 2 is a decent movie. I won’t call it great or anything though. It definitely does feel like it’s just copying the first film to a large extent. I really enjoyed the martial art fight scenes but the general atmosphere of the jail wasn’t great. Naturally the characters are getting beaten up and effectively tortured the whole time without any real way out. It’s definitely a real dark place to be in and the more you think about it, the rougher it would get. If you’re looking for a random action film to pass some of the time by though, you can’t really go wrong with this one.

Overall 6/10

Kaiju No. 8: B-Side Review

Posted on July 14, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a Kaiju No. 8 spinoff that lasted for a little while. Miniseries like this are always fun to flesh out the side characters with material that we never got to see in the main title. It’s a good idea and I think more manga should do this. I would have liked it to have been longer if anything, but we still got to see 3 different characters and their origins which was fun. They picked really solid characters to do this with. I guess at this point there are just 3 more that I would like to see a full prequel with. Captain Ashiro, and then both of Kikoru’s parents. Maybe someday though.

The first story is the origin for Hoshino. All his life he has trained in the ways of the sword but the problem is that this is seen as very ineffective against Kaiju nowadays. Most of them are just too large so the sword won’t pierce and even for the smaller ones, it seems a lot more efficient to just mow them down with a machine gun. Hoshino really wants to stick to the sword though, that has been his family legacy after all. Finally he is being given a chance by Captain Ashiro. Can he live up to her hopes or is he about to just doom his chances of ever being a true Kaiju hunter?

It’s definitely fun to see Hoshino in the old days and he already had great speed and ability. Honestly I never thought the series made a good case for why guns beat swords. The gun blasts vary based on how much power you can get out of the suit and the way I see it, almost nobody can get a reasonable amount of power out of the suit. So in that case, it ends up feeling like they’re just spinning their wheels there. It’s not a great long term approach at all. So if everyone had swords, at least they could stab into the Kaiju because the power of the suit won’t limit the sword as much as it would a gun. Maybe there are more reasons for not using swords though.

Either way Ashiro made a wise decision in picking Hoshino for her team. He has definitely proven himself a whole lot and he really did good against the Kaiju fighters in the first story. He would go on to consistently be one of the best characters in the series. Following him up would be a tough choice but the series went with Kikoru which makes sense. She is also a prodigy after all. In this case we already know her origin from the main series though so what would the story be about?

The title decides to show us how she ended up picking out her custom weapon. Her normal weapon wasn’t strong enough to pierce the armor of the Kaiju that she was up against in the training exercises so she grabbed an axe and then the rest was history. You could tell that the writer was a little more constrained with this character since we see her a lot in the main story but this was a smart way to get us some more fights and everything. It’s definitely much smaller scale than the first story with the stakes not being as large but it was satisfying to see her rise up to the top.

The Kaiju corp is definitely lucky to have so many prodigies on the team. In some ways it’s why the series reminds me of World Trigger because the heroes have so many different hype characters on the roster. They just keep on coming and so you’d think the enemies might be in a bad spot but fortunately for them, they have a lot of strong fighters too. If they had actually made a move before the heroes grew so powerful, it would probably be curtains by now.

Finally the last story is about Gen and how he was recruited. The guy started out as a…guess what…a huge prodigy! As a kid without a suit he was already powerful enough to take down some of the smaller Kaiju on his own. Mix in the Kaiju suit and now he was basically unstoppable. This guy has the special kaiju eye implants that can let him detect future attacks. So mix that in with his relentless training/ability and he is one of the strongest in the series. I dare say that he easily surpasses both Hoshina and Kikoru in skill. I’d like to see a quick story with a rivalry between those 3 characters to be honest. That would have been a fun way to finish up the series as a bonus story of sorts.

Ultimately I suppose the point of the series is to hype up the main one and get more readers on it. It does a good job with that as each chapter ends with a flash forward to the main series as everyone gets hyped to take on the Kaiju. The monsters don’t stand a chance against the combined might of human ingenuity! The art is definitely really high tier and holds its own with the main series. All of the action scenes are drawn really well and the villains are definitely very imposing. Of course this is before we got to the intelligent Kaiju so they’re basically just classic monsters but the designs are really good.

This is a rare example of an anthology where I liked all of the characters/stories. Usually in formats like this, there will always be at least one that holds the others back but this wasn’t the case here. I guess it goes to show how solid the cast is for the series. Kaiju No 8 has a very small cast of notable characters next to other titles but that’s probably a good thing in this case. It allows each one to stand out way more than they ever would have if they tried introducing too many characters. Still, like I said before there are some other characters around if they want to go and start working on those in another anthology spinoff.

Overall, All 3 stories were really good. The series was really a bunch of nonstop action scenes across the 3 leads which worked perfectly for this one. That’s why you are reading Kaiju No 8 after all. You’re here for all of the fights and the intrigue. The series never holds back on this. The art is still really solid and so this is a must read for any fan of the franchise. Even if you don’t read Kaiju No 8 this works as a solid jumping on point. Then if you enjoyed this prequel, you can jump into the main story right away. That’s a good way to handle things.

Overall 7/10

Tales of Arise Review

Posted on July 13, 2024 by dreager1

Whenever someone says “Arise” it’s always in a very dramatic kind of way which makes you think and this game is no different. It’s a really intense RPG that has a good length. This allows time for all of the characters to get proper development and everything. I tend to play these games for fairly long batches of time and even then it took me a while to knock this one out. It definitely speaks to how much content is in the title. Granted, I did beat virtually all of the side missions but even then there was still more to do and extra content to be covered.

The game starts by introducing us to the world. There are two races of people. The Renans, who live in the sky and subjugate the Dahnans, the people who live on the ground. The Renans have incredible powers and so they took over easily 300 years ago. Ever since then, they have continued to dominate and there is really no way for the Dahnans to rise up. That is, until one slave named Alphen meets up with a Renan girl named Shionne. She has decided to murder the 5 Renan lords who have enslaved everyone and Alphen agrees to help. Along the way they make a lot of friends and fight off powerful monsters. The closer they get to the end of this journey, the more uncomfortable truths they find out. Will these revelations end up destroying their will to fight??

One thing about a game that is 40+ hours like this is that the plot will change a lot. So this plot summary I gave will be outdated very quickly but at the same time you don’t want to go into those plot details from the jump because they are filled with twists. The more surprised you are the better. All in all I would say the twists are all handled very well. It may get a little long for a bit there where you are sitting through 40 minute cutscenes of everything being broken down for you. At the same time it’s probably a good idea though because otherwise I do think you’d have people saying it was all too complicated.

The gameplay is a 3D fighter where you have your standard attacks and then you can also launch your power moves. They take longer to load and you have to have enough energy to use them. As the game goes on you can use upgrades and power ups to help replenish energy more. The level up system is pretty interesting here. Of course you have the standard level up system for the characters but in addition to that you also have the SP upgrades that you can use to unlock new skills or stat bonuses. You get points from every battle but very few of them. Most of your points are from completing side quests which is why you want to complete as many of them as possible. Then some of the sections with upgrades aren’t unlocked until you have completed specific tasks like eaten a specific food or completed a certain side quest. You can see what you need to do from the level up board so I recommend checking up on these from time to time so you know where to go. These upgrades are all fairly minor but really start to add up as you unlock more and more.

The game is surprisingly difficult at times. I can say with reasonable confidence that if you just try to barrel through and fight the final boss it is not going to end well for you. Go complete some side quests, get some good armors, etc. Load yourself up and then you will be fine. Items are extremely handy in this game and for that reason, earning money is a very slow process. It’s another instance where you need to complete side missions as often as possible. These will always get you a lot of money which you can then use to buy items like revives or potions that give you cure points.

The cure point system is something fairly unique compared to other RPGs. Basically, healing your allies takes energy from this system rather than your special meter. So if you run out, then you can’t use any of your healing spells. This means you often need to keep an eye on that and replenish it as needed. Without these items, you’d get crushed by a ton of the bosses. Grinding for level ups is still super important of course but another big thing is really just getting funds for the extra items.

I will also give the game heavy credit for the solid romance plots here. Not all 3 of the romance plots work but 2/3 is still really good. Especially considering that one of those is the main pairing. There’s a lot of development here and the two were through a lot. We even got a time skip of several months. So this game hardly took place over a few days. I thought it was all handled most excellently. The writing is really top tier here. Outside of the main story, there are over 300 skit cutscenes which you can have fun playing when you are at the campfire or live as you walk through the areas. I did like 100 of those but still had a lot to go.

The sheer amount of content here is breathtaking. Then of course you have the soundtrack which is really solid. Both theme songs in the game were really good and I also enjoyed the general battle themes and boss battles. The animation is top tier of course and the game even has some fully animated scenes as well. That was really cool. You can tell that this game got the top level budget and it was all worth it. People call this a top tier RPG and they are absolutely right in every way.

Overall, Tales of Arise is a top tier game. The characters are excellent and the story is great. The gameplay is executed incredibly well with smooth gameplay and even some solid platforming. It’s got every quality of life feature that you can think of and of course the story mode is already super long. Then you have a ton of replay value that can likely double your play time. If you somehow don’t own this one yet, then you should definitely check it out. It will forever be known as one of the top RPGs.

Overall 9/10

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Review

Posted on July 13, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to look at one of the oldest DBZ titles out there. Budokai is a true classic title that doesn’t even have the Buu saga contained within it. So the game goes by very quickly. It’s fun to play through the first two sagas again and the game gives a decent amount of context for the levels. That said, there’s just not a whole lot of battles here. How could there be when most of the characters aren’t even playable? You’ll be done with this in around 2 hours or so.

The gameplay is your classic 2D fighter. You use your close combat moves and energy moves to try and take down all of the health your opponent has. If you play better than your opponent, you will have won the round. There’s nothing complicated or tricky about the gameplay so it’s all about execution. If you lose then you know that you were outplayed. It’s really as simple as that and I can appreciate this. You have to lock in and mix up your combos if you really want to win. You learn more and more combos/attacks as you play through the game.

In general I wouldn’t say that I ever really got too good at learning all of the attacks. I would try to find one or two that would work really well and then I kept on using them. This seemed to be the perfect balance for me. Just spam the Kamehameha and the normal attacks and you would do pretty good. In general the Super Saiyan fighters really had crazy fast moves too. When I was using them I didn’t have to worry quite as much about strategy or anything like that. I do like how you would go back to base mode if you took too much damage though. The enemies would have the same thing happen to them too. I liked that the game was fair about it as others would just stack the deck in favor of the villains which is always a bit iffy.

The hits are satisfying and so I have no problems with the gameplay. Maybe it wasn’t the fanciest out there but this is an older game. Every character does have a combo move that triggers a whole animation with a lot of blows and good background damage. That was definitely a lot of fun. I didn’t get to land a whole lot of them to be honest but each one that I did get was very satisfying. You really have to time the attacks just right in order to land these special moves. Trust me when I say that it’s not easy.

The graphics have that retro feel which works really well here. Everyone is super blocky like an N64 title but the character designs are really handled well and you still recognize them from the show the whole time. Everything is fully voice acted which is always really nice as well. The soundtrack is fun enough, I enjoyed seeing the English theme song even if it’s not one of the all time greats. Everything about this feels like they put a lot of effort into the game back in a time when things weren’t as advanced as they were back then.

You also don’t have to worry about replay value. The campaign may have been very short but there is still the vs mode which is the main reason people would stay playing the game anyway. You can keep having fresh games with your buddies forever since the core gameplay is so solid. It’s why that part of the game is so absolutely critical. If it had not been up to snuff then the whole experience would have been hurt big time. Fortunately that was not the case so that’s why I can recommend this one.

Now the final question is, can you dive into this one without any prior knowledge of the DBZ universe? I would say yes. While the game has to skip a whole lot due to the limited amount of characters, they give you just enough story before and after each fight to know what is happening. I actually think it would be a very interesting way to get into the franchise that’s for sure. Still, this game is so old that by this point I doubt it will be the intro point for anyone.

Overall, Budokai is definitely a really nostalgic game to dive into. It’s pretty nice seeing the retro animation and having the theme song before every story saga really makes it feel like watching the show. It does a good job of tackling the story but is a really short game without a ton of characters to play through. Ultimately there aren’t too many reasons to play this over any of the newer ones. They will all have more things going for them but now I feel like I have really gotten to have more of the full Budokai experience so that alone was worth the trip. I eagerly await seeing what comes next with Sparking Zero although I will have another DBZ review up before then as my gaming marathon continues!

Overall 7/10

Edens Zero Review

Posted on July 11, 2024 by dreager1

As everyone who reads works created by Mashima knows…the best ship is friendship. Friendship is something that will take you very far. When you think you’re at the end of your rope or that you are going to get absolutely dominated once more, just remember to reach out to your friends. Eden Zero is filled with lots of great and positive messages the whole time. I really appreciate this the whole time. That being said…., the series is held back massively by the crazy amounts of fanservice contained within. Trust me, it’s an absolutely absurd amount of fanservice the whole time. It will chill you to the bone. This could have easily been a 9/10 series but it just couldn’t overcome all of this.

The series starts with a V Tuber named Rebecca deciding to head to a robot amusement park planet. On it, she meets a boy named Shiki who was raised by robots. He doesn’t even know how to have a basic interaction with another human which is a little strange. The guy seems to really be behind the times but the robots ask her to take Shiki with her since they will be dying soon. This leads to some tearful goodbyes but she takes Shiki along with her on the V Tuber journey. Shiki gets to make a lot of other friends as he journeys with her but there won’t be time for too much fun. The entire multiverse is at risk because of various opponents who want to destroy everything. Can Shiki stop them?

First thing’s first, the art is absolutely spectacular as you would expect. This guy is super experienced from the days of Fairy Tail so this isn’t really much of a surprise. It’s still got some of the best looking fights and character designs that you will see in manga. It’s really spectacular and the paneling is on a completely different level. It’s the kind of series you could easily binge from start to finish as a result because it’s just so easy to read through. The artist has real skills here.

Unfortunately it is a double edged sword as the series is very quick to jump into fanservice the whole time. You can barely go two pages without something crazy happening on screen. I dare say that it may even match Fairy Tail in that regard. Fairy Tail may still have the edge in frequency but this one has the edge in how extreme the fanservice elements get. Lets just say that things get real disturbing here and the series also gets really granular about the fanservice as well. It tries to hit every possible niche which isn’t always a good thing. Wait…it’s never a good thing. Yeah this series was cooked from the start. It’s one of those titles that is a 9/10 in terms of hype but ultimately sinks to a 1/10.

It’s just not a series that you could easily read in public or ever recommend to anyone so automatically that means that it is a bad series. You really can’t come back from that. The series can also get a little overly dark as well. Usually it goes hand in hand with the fanservice but quite a few villains like to focus on humiliation. You can see how that gets rough real quick. Others have to become slaves for a while and others are thrown to the wolves. Quite a few characters meet very grisly fates throughout the series which is unfortunate.

I would say that this is to keep pace with the themes that the series has by the end. The heroes are fighting to achieve a perfect world where everyone finally gets their happy ending. To do that, they hop between different timelines and pasts. Well, this isn’t their goal for most of the series but by the end this happens. So after seeing how everyone had such a tragic end, we can be happy that they have peace the next time around. It’s a good concept but you probably could have toned down the bad endings a little bit.

Also while the series is fairly long, the ending still ends up being super rushed which is almost impressive but in a sad way. There was definitely more time to continue so I’m not sure why the series ended so abruptly. This was definitely the time to get in some more massive fight scenes. Rushed nature aside though, I can’t be upset with how it finished though. This is the kind of really happy ending that I could get behind. It was satisfying that after such a long and dangerous journey, the characters were allowed to actually thrive and have a good time. I definitely can’t fault that.

Now lets talk about the characters here. I’ll just say right now that every story arc is bogged down by the fanservice. I’ll get this out of the way now so I don’t have to be super repetitive. It’s not like Fairy Tail where it took a while for that to show up. Nah, in this title they went hard from the jump and put in every possible effort to stop any of the arcs from being as high tier as they should have been. Naturally I won’t be going into every character but I’ll tackle a bunch of the big ones.

Amira is one of the big missed opportunities of the series because she seemed like an interesting character with a lot of mystery. She’s a secret agent of sorts who is a master of disguise and usually seems to be one step ahead of the other characters. She gets a whole lot of respect but doesn’t end up doing much with it. I remember always being intrigued when she would show up…and then she would just vanish as quickly as she had appeared. It felt like an odd decision.

Brigandine is a solid villain who had a good honor code. He came in at a rough point narratively so the guy was not a threat but he was technically powerful. I tend to like the strong types who stick to fighting within the combat rules and don’t take hostages or anything like that. He’s the kind of villain who will be memorable based on how much you enjoyed his battle or not. If you weren’t a big fan then that would be the end of that.

God Acnoella has such a cool name so you would expect her to be one of the very best right? Well, unfortunately she still has quite a few limitations on screen time. Make no mistake, she gets a ton of hype constantly but it never amounts to much. I really thought she should have had more of a grand final fight so we could actually see what she could do. Another missed opportunity and you’ve seen me say that a few times. It’s just that there’s a lot more you could have done with some of these characters.

Happy works well as the main mascot here. I like that he is effectively just like the Happy from Fairy Tail. It’s technically a different one but has a similar personality and everything. He definitely has a real intense backstory so you feel bad for him too but he messes around less than the FT version. This is one that you can actually count on to have your back.

Hermit is one of the main characters and she is a super genius. She may not be able to fight on quite the same high level as the other generals but you can’t underestimate her IQ. She absolutely holds her own there and saves the group on many occasions thanks to that. She can hack into any system and ends up making it look easy. I liked when we would have the cyber fights because it was a great excuse to get her into the action as opposed to having her just be on the sidelines. It was a great decision all the way around and she adds a lot to the dynamic with her cheerful disposition.

Jaguar was a fun villain. You sort of knew that he was doomed from the start but I thought he actually put up a much better fight than expected and even held his own. The guy was strong and fast which is a good combination. Considering that he wasn’t the main villain of his arc, the author gave him a good amount of hype. I definitely enjoyed him even if he may not have been the most powerful villain out there. He was still strong enough to make a difference.

Justice is a fun character although a big part of why he’s fun is his banter with Elsie. The author had a good time making them very similar to two of the characters from Fairy Tail and it works well. The guy has incredible physical abilities and is one of the stronger characters in the series for a while but gets written out along with Elsie later on. He had a good design and a solid skillset which automatically made him a really fierce member. Meanwhile I also liked Elsie a lot. She was always ready for a fight and stayed prepared the whole time. You weren’t about to catch her lacking which is important. She has a whole lot of battle experience at her disposal after all.

Joker is a super powerful villain but one of those figures that the series may have made a little bit too powerful. With the ability to stop time for fairly long periods and a very solid energy source, it’s just hard to see how this being could be defeated. I wasn’t entirely convinced with the method that the series brought up. It’s why time stop abilities are always so overpowered. It’s just really hard to stop them. Still, Joker had a great design and really showed up out of nowhere near the end so that was a lot of fun.

Kleene is one of those characters who had a really tragic origin story. Easily one of the toughest ones to live through here although Edens Zero sometimes works as a trauma contest. So I can tell you there are tons of competitors for this position. Poor Rebecca has to be up there as well along with Homura’s mother. The list goes on and on, the dark nature of the series could be rather exhausting a lot of the time to be honest. Kleene is definitely the definition of a character who started out as an intimidating boss and quickly became super weak once she turned heroic though. She still had a few battles here and there but never got that intimidating aura back.

Meanwhile her brother Jinn got to keep on fighting though. He was a really solid figure who was just looking out for his sister the whole time so I definitely appreciated that. His wind abilities were real good. He may have ended up getting power creeped as the series went on but he always had a cool personality. Then you had Laguana who sort of took over his role as protector of the group in the later stages. He was protective of the younger fighters and really had a big change of heart compared to his early days of being a villain as well. His ability to turn you into water if you start crying was super unique and also very deadly. Once you’re water, there’s really nothing you can do except accept defeat. You may think that not crying would be easy but in a series about friendship and loss that happens quite often.

Labilia starts off as a super petty bully but actually gets a ton of character development. Her backstory feels a bit retroactive when it shows up to be honest but all in all I thought she was a really fun character. Sometimes you need a petty villain to shake things up a little aside from the super cruel end of the world type threats. Ultimately it’s not like she can fight so she tends to vanish from the spotlight most of the time. Couchpo is another V Tuber that gets a fairly big role. She likes to eat a lot which is always cool. It helps her stand out among the pack.

Lyra is one of those villains who was really just created as an excuse to throw more fanservice into the mix. She wants to humiliate Rebecca in a rigged game and that is basically the whole point of her existence. It’s definitely annoying and doesn’t make her an endearing character at all. You’ll forget about her right away even if you don’t forget the events. Then you have Mother who is a cosmic being with limitless powers but she ends up not doing much either. One of those characters who plans things out and says a lot of grand stuff but when the chips are down she seems to just not care about anything. She certainly doesn’t go out of her way to help Shiki and pals even when she is literally dying.

Noah is someone who can somehow see into different timelines and knows when the universe has been reset. We never actually go too far into this but he works well as a plot device who gets to give the info dumps and keep everyone on track. I’d like it more if he could fight or do something in addition to that though. It makes him come across as a bit of a flat character at times. Meanwhile Holy is a lot more fun as a government officer who does whatever she wants. She isn’t above using blackmail and has characters on all sides afraid of what she will do next. Her abilities are really solid but the main thing is that she has confidence. She knows that no matter what she does, all eyes will be on hers. It takes a lot of guts to be getting involved with such fierce fighters.

Then from the main characters we have Rebecca who is a super solid main heroine. She can fight really well with the rest of the characters and I like her unwavering confidence. She is the kind of character who is always pro actively looking for some way to help the rest of the fighters and I appreciate that. She gets a ton of character development and screentime of course and only gets better with each appearance. Definitely a character who gets a lot of credit for the series being as solid as it was. Well…that may sound like an insult since the score is low so a better way to phrase this is that she added a lot to the dynamic and was really fun.

Next up is Homura and her gimmick is that she always says exactly what she is thinking. No matter how inappropriate or out of place it may be. She will just speak her mind and it gets her into a lot of jams. Fortunately she is also super good with a sword and makes up for this by really protecting the team when they need a defender the most. I definitely enjoyed her character and she is very well meaning. It really goes to show how the main cast of Edens Zero was really solid. I actually enjoyed all of the super core characters even if the supporting characters start to fade out after that.

For example Connor is one of these guys. He tries to present himself as a capable captain but has way too many slip ups for me to take him seriously. He’s not the guy you want to have by the wheel because he gets distracted too easily. Even his wholesome plot twists are not enough to save him because they ring hollow by then. Nah this was a character who had too many flaws and never ended up being all that good.

Now Void was a superb character even if he was introduced super late into the game. He has a very solid backstory that may be a bit convoluted but it works well in context. He is one of the strongest characters in the series without a doubt and can hold his own with any of the other fighters. He has a top tier design and top tier abilities so you can’t ask for much more out of him than that right? Then there is Ziggy who looks really similar and there are a lot of comparisons that you can make across the two characters.

Ziggy’s motivations and everything get a little complicated as well. Needless to say, he’s definitely a really fun villain to have around though. He would always shake things up quite a lot and helped Shiki to really evolve as a fighter. Poseidon was another villain who really made things tough on the heroes. His abilities were the real deal and despite being older, his abilities really didn’t falter. He has the power of luck on his side which is really strong but of course if you are simply stronger than fate then it won’t work. Such is the big limitation of hax type abilities like that so it made for a very satisfying fight.

Shura was the real threat in the Poseidon arc though. Now here is a super demented villain who just likes to inflict pain all of the time. He was definitely way too sadistic for me to really like him as a villain but he definitely had a real intimidating aura about him. The guy was someone you absolutely did not want to cross because if you did then that would be curtains forever. His gravity abilities were some of the best in the series too. Most of the strongest fighters actually had gravity now that I think about it. It makes sense though, that has always been one of the most powerful elements for good reason.

Back to the heroes, Sister was surprisingly a sadistic character as well. It’s played for laughs but she always enjoys torturing Rebecca as one of her past times. She messes with different characters like this and so you’re reminded that you probably wouldn’t want to be living on the Edens Zero. It would be fairly unforgettable but not a very pleasant spot to be in.

Witch gets the smallest role from the shining generals if you ask me. She never got as much of an origin story and her supporting characters didn’t get as personal as the others. She is a good member of the crew and probably the most mature to be honest but she doesn’t end up standing out quite as much as she could have. Then you have Valkyrie who steals the show as soon as she shows up. She actually gets even less screentime than some of the other characters and yet it doesn’t matter because of how overwhelming her presence is. When she shows up, the characters have to take notice. Her fighting skills are absolutely top tier.

Xenolith is a mentor type figure who shows up for a bit and then becomes one of the antagonists. His role isn’t as big as you would expect from this character type. I like that he put some of the characters in their place who were trying to be a bit iffy. I wouldn’t say that he’s a high tier character or anything like that though. Then you have Xiaomei who knows a whole lot and constantly breaks the 4th wall. It’s always interesting to have a character like this but she doesn’t really add a lot to the story so she could have been cut out here.

Throughout the story there are scenes that take place millions of years in the future and they eventually tie into the story but it sure takes a long while. The series isn’t afraid to jump into time travel and loops which is admirable but you could do that without Xiaomei giving us spoilers and foreshadowing. If anything I think that would even benefit the mystery so it could tell its own story right there.

Now for some of the villains. One that is really memorable is Clown but more because he is a very twisted villain than because he is a good one. It’s a fine line between being a good villain and one who is creepy just to be creepy. I didn’t end up liking this guy. I can acknowledge that he is super powerful but yeah he’s not going to be near the top. Then you have Cure who ends up being a super big boss. Another guy with an intimidating design and a ton of raw power but I wouldn’t call him a good villain. He gets a little too twisted and dark with how he deals with the Holy and the other fighters. Edens Zero definitely had a problem about getting too dark sometimes.

This naturally goes to Drakken Joe as well. This guy is a true Kingpin type figure among the underworld and so he gets mixed up in a lot of twisted stuff. The series does not miss with the incredible designs as he is another one you could throw ono the list. This is definitely a world where you rarely feel bad for the villains by the end because they really do not hold back at all.

Eraser is sort of a villain. He works for the government but the guy just follows orders no matter what so he’s basically a villain. It’s a shame that he never got to fight much but I think it’s because his ability is broken. As his name suggests, he can erase things, including large pockets of space. He takes down large parts of a whole army and it’s super impressive. In theory he could destroy almost any character in the series without any real effort.

Back to the heroes, Pino is a nice little robot that is always helping the heroes. It’s always nice to see her around. She’s not particularly tough or anything but is always around to spread kindness and cheer. Then you have Weisz who is a super engineer. He would have been known as the resident genius but Hermit has that covered. I like his mech suit and in general he’s handy. I feel like he didn’t fully keep up with the power creep later on in the series but he’s always a central figure at all times.

Finally, we have Shiki. As the main character he is naturally a huge character and he’s a lot of fun to root for. He’s one of the biggest advocators for friendship that I have ever seen. Now admittedly he can take this a little too far at times. There are some things that you can’t forgive nearly as easily as he does. It’s just not going to work. That being said, the idea behind the character is a good one. He gets a solid amount of rage modes throughout as well. I would say I enjoyed him a lot more than Natsu from the author’s other series. Shiki is a high tier lead who could hold his own in any series.

As you can tell from all of the images, the series does absolutely go all out on the friendship themes and it is really endearing. I like that the series isn’t embarrassed about this or going half heartedly about it. We get to really explore what it means to be friends in a whole lot of different circumstances. Not just how to get friends but to handle them. You support each other and meddle in affairs as needed. Like I said, it can be a bit unrealistic but I’ve never seen another title be this unrelenting about it which works really well. Yet another part of the series that could have made the whole title elite if it didn’t have other issues slowing it down the whole time.

That’s about it for the characters. Of course there are dozens and dozens of other characters scattered within the series but you will need to read the title to see them all. It’s still not a title that I can really recommend though. Yes, it brought tons of hype and I had a really good time for a lot of the fights. However, the negatives still outweigh the positives with all of the dark elements and fanservice. It just gets really over the top here. Man, why did it have to happen to a title with such dynamite art and time travel elements?

Overall, Eden Zero is one of those series that I will always look at a little fondly in spite of its negatives. It’s certainly a series I could never recommend and one that I would spend a lot of time skipping massive chunks of if I ever gave it a re read. However, the peak moments of the series are super good. You really get invested in the characters and the writing is really good. It’s always a shame when there’s just so much fanservice that it takes away from the story. I really wanted to read this one for the plot but the other elements made that close to impossible. It’s a shame but that’s just how it goes sometimes.

Overall 1/10

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Edens Zero Review

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